‘Something Special’: USA-Canada Epic 4 Nations Rematch Set

BOSTON — Team Canada defeated Finland, 5-3, in its final 4 Nations Face-Off round-robin game to advance to the championship bout at TD Garden on Thursday night.

A rematch the entire hockey world will be tuning in for — especially after the electric start on Saturday night. USA and Canada dropped the gloves three times in the first nine seconds of their game, and the Americans skated away with the 3-1 victory.

Team USA is the favorite to win the trophy and gold medals, per FanDuel Sportsbook, a fact Canada head coach Jon Cooper downplayed.

“Betting has become quite an industry now. It’s amazing that we sit here in a press conference talking about gambling,” Cooper quipped. “So, I don’t care who’s favored, who’s not. We came in here to win this. … I don’t know who’s making the lines, but I’m really looking forward to the game.

“This is why we came here and regardless if other people out there say we’re the underdogs, everybody in that room thinks that we have a really good chance to win.”

Cooper added having another “crack” at Team USA wasn’t a motivating factor for Canada entering its game against Finland.

“I can’t sit here and say that was the case,” he said. “Even if the U.S. wasn’t in the final, we wouldn’t be like that. We don’t want to be that. We wanted this, and we came, and it just happened to be against the team that beat us after the fireworks that went off on Saturday. So, I think it should be a pretty good game.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning coach said Canada needs to play more like it did against Finland if the team wants to beat Team USA.

“A lot of the things we did tonight,” Cooper said. “A lot of this game is about management. Sometimes, it’s not as fun to watch. There’s a lot of hard work because, for much of the game, you might be working without the puck.

“We didn’t do that very well against the U.S. in the first game and made some adjustments in it tonight. It worked in our favor. … We have to put stress on them, and I didn’t think we did that enough.”

Cooper continued: “There was a lot of credit to them, too. They have a phenomenal team. They defend and play hard. I think you’re going to see two really evenly matched teams go out. The City of Boston will be treated to something special Thursday night.”